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Tribute to Yamada who makes the wonderful KR9500 amp

Dear Yamada-san,

After initial small difficulty in installing the KR845 tubes to the new amps, I finally managed to turn them on around 09:30pm and have been listening for almost 2 hours.

I reckon one needs at least 20-30 minutes of warming up b4 conducting serious listening to these amps, the immediate improvement I could discern is the extra transparency of the
sound as well as the sound stage, making the listener much easier to hear everything.

Later on, after listening to different types of music, it is apparent the whole sound spectrum is more refined and harmonics richer, the violin becomes more grand and human voice has more emotions.

Yamada-san, you have once again improved the sound of the 9500 to a higher level way beyond other competitive products I have heard and I am very honoured to be your 1st user of the KR9500. Once again, this has proved I have made the right
choice of utilising all Zanden components in my system.

This week, I have an annual visit from my international audiophile friends from Malaysia (one of them uses Wilson Audio WAMM system) and this particular user repeatedly praised the Zanden transport/dac combo - the sound/sound stage very
stable/solid and the tempo very musical, in fact, he commented the sound from the cd sounds better than any other cd players he has heard including other LP system !

So what can I say when I received compliments (they were not pretending to be polite) from my friends except the superlative sound of my system is due to the synergy of using all Zanden products. Before the listening session ends, the new amps arrived and everyone requested to come back here to hear the new amps
first thing in the morning on this Thursday b4 they leave Hong Kong.

I can't thank you enough for designing such magnificient amps, I hope you will sell many many more of them in the future and whenever you have time to spend a weekend abroad, I'd like to invite you to come to H.K. on Friday and returning to Osaka on Sunday - this is an open invitation as I really wish you can come and
hear how your components sound in a properly set-up system & environment.

With warmest regards,

Wilson
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Comments

  • Wilson,

    glad that you create this thread and I would also place my unreserved respect to a maestro like Yamada san who creates his masterpieces with hearts and serves his customers with passion.

    with some luck, I have got back the Zanden 5000Signature DAC with the superclock upgraded recently. I was about to say something about the re-unioned couple (2000P+5000S superclock linked) but thought would wait until I have got the wideband width clocklink to draw some more concrete observations.

    The Zanden combo fits very well with the 'hard-tone' of my room acoustics and the seamless integration with the Syren and Baldur makes a whole damn suite of tube system I have never thought about having in terms of the overall performance!

    My salute to Yamada san and surely if he comes to HK, I would be grateful to invite him to come along if you are not 'hijacking' him like last time....


    Marvel
  • Marvel bro,

    Where is the Zanden super clock system for poor Voy? Did you jump queue? Oh yeah, your floor must sound fairly hard. Zanden should fit your room better. What is the wide band cable all about?

    The poor bat is singing sweet with the cantata 300b mono. Marvel bro, you seem like big and macho stuff, wanna explore the magic of SET?

    Pardon me, where is your vinyl system?

    VR

  • Dear Voy,

    Ha ha...long story short, to leverage the strength of the superclock, Yamada san has devise a new i2S optical cable to run between the transport and the DAC which is supposed to support a wider bandwidth. Of course, being a laymen, all I could do is to wait patiently and judge by the ears if it really surpasses the current one. The amount of details that I am hearing using the old cable is very close to using the SMR EE digital cable!

    No, I didn't jump queue, the unit is just there in AE and I was informed that it would go away quickly if I don't grasp it. So with some funding raising, I took it up. Yours are manufactured new so be patient.

    Floor problem has been mitigated and you have to come and assess it. Do you think my Neo would work well with Cantata 300b mono? I am not sure...

    Ah, my vinyl system, not yet, not yet....but when it is there, I want it to stand up as the vinyl version of Zanden 2000P+5000Sig, ie something that would set my mind to peace on that source.

    Marvel
  • Marvel bro, your sense of humor is getting better. Your consistency of inconsistent is living up to the reputation too. Bravo! The Zanden source is absolutely top rated fortifies by numerous accolates from the world. You shouldn't let it go. The Heritage dac is unique, I reckon. I can see how your mind work. A one to one competition between the Hertiage and the DAC, and your championship at that time was heritage.

    Now, the hardtone theory of yours suggests Zanden as a suite may suit your room acoustics more. If I get your logic right, your previous conclusion of taking up the Heritage did not take into the account of room acoustics. You might have pay a lot of attention to the cosmetic of the Hertiage than its relation to your room acoustics at that time.

    I got no chance to listen to the Heritage. I read the review and reckon it is serious stuff but I cast serious doubt it may work well with the Zanden 2000p. Merging the musical maturity between two different persons at different age is difficult. They may walk on the same path but age differences matter, right? Placing the most expensive gears together may not yield the desired results, although the appetite of deep pockets may say otherwise.

    By the same token, if the german tank is replaced by a smaller power amp, would it fit your hardtone room of yours more? What about your most favored swiss candy? Is it still singing well in your audio home base side by side against the Zanden suite? Let those blind brand follower put it in their mind cage. Marvel bro, don't joke with poor Voy. When you are standing at certain height, you see more. You see more people making mistakes that you once committed. Let them wander more, but don't ever join again.

    VR

  • Voy,

    You got a good point. I never think choosing components based on acoustic factors. After learning more room acoustics, I think you raised a good topic for discussion.

    So, marvel bro, what is your opinion? Very eager to learn from big brother.

    Where is my Zanden 2000p/5000s?

    Ju
  • Room is certainly part of the system as every object reflects, resonates, absorbs sound wave of different frequencies. I believe if the room acoustics is right especially in relationship with the position of the speakers. In hindsight, we are all approaching the same issue from different walks, some may choose to fix the position of the speakers and then work around it with various tweaks inside the room. Some may prefer to keep the environment intact and keep adjusting the position of the speakers until the 'sweet spot' is found. Some may take a bit of both.

    Marvel
  • Marvel, what was your path and what is your path now? We want to learn from your experience.
  • The crowd is getting bigger. It would be interesting to know how the syren in Marvel system interact with the highly reflective floor. The acoustic discussion in this forum is interesting. The observation of Zanden matches acoustically better in his setup is a reflection of the intrinsic reflective problem in his home. Marvel bro posted a picture of his magnificient Neo standing on a piece of wood shelf and reported major improvement. The floor must be the culprit. The tubes on the Audiovalve monster amps may affect by floor vibrations too. I am not sure if mechanical vibration control had been done in his case. My experience with tile floor has been real bad. It does not only raise the ringing frequency of the trebel, it cut bass to my surprise. What is your experience? I am keen to know yours.

    Kingston
  • Dear all,

    To Voy question on the Swiss Candy, it has gone to a new owner whom I knew would treat it well because he is a hard core Swiss candy fans. I hope I would have a chance to visit its new home. A period for its short stay in my home anyway.

    At the early days, I tried different types of absorbent, reflectors, diffusors and in many cases I yield some benefits but at the same time at the expense of something else. I seldom moved my speakers until the arrival of the Watt7 which gave me a lot more fun in toeing in and out, adjusting the angle of the Watt 'head', etc. PT helped me with the positioning of the Neo and based upon that positions, we started to set up the resonators and diffusors. The process of fine tuning was lengthy but interesting and during which, whenever there is a change in gear, PT re-visit the relative positions of the resonators to make sure the energy balance within the room due to the traverse of the sound waves has achieved the best equilibrium. Of course, it was always judged by the ears of PT and myself without the use of any PC or automated tools to 'line' up the frequency bars.

    Putting the platform underneath the speakers and power amp would reduce the effect of the tiles onto the gears and in my situation, I feel the main adverse effect of putting the speakers and amp on the tile floor is bass tends to be dampened and becomes too tight. With the wooden platform, energy seems to be released out more naturally and the bass compartment is having a fully body and does not give a feeling of being squeezed out or compressed.

    I cannot change the tiles but the wooden platforms have helped to mitigate its adverse effect to a big extent. Unlike other amp stand, there is a hole at the middle of the platform and inside the platform, there are some specially designed compartments to drain and release the energy absorbed from the vibration and prevent it to go back to the components. This will help in a more complete reconstruction of the sound waves at both extremes. When you come and visit me, I ask you not to trust your eyes but trust your ears. Many would still believe the tile floor, glass are the culprit, yes, they still are to some extent, but they are having a much less detrimental effect than they are perceived to generate.

    The wooden platform is always out of stock and I am waiting for a few to arrive so that I could put one beneath my Syren and 2 underneath the tube power amp.

    By the way, I have to report that for those Zanden DAC user, putting a reference feet underneath it will add more authority on the bass in a natural way. This however is also dependent on the rack that one puts the Zanden on. In my case, my rack tends to sound a bit soften and 'underdamped' so it works well with the Ref Ft coupling.

    Marvel
  • Action speaks louder than thousand words. The swiss candy was dumped. An old lover comes back home. It is quite unusal an old lover can come back home when a new lover is present. That is very unusual. The sweet candy reminds the gold memories of the old bird. The new lover could be truly sensational for a short while, which looks like to be the case. How old are you? Still fond of the old romantic dating? I am glad you can escape. Most ot the time, the new lover just behaves like a sticky gum on your back. The market is good now, huh?

    Bravo! Marvel bro! You do know what you want. That's the attitude I truly compliment.

    VR
  • Zanden combo reunion.
  • Zanden combo reunion
  • Zanden combo reunion
  • I quietly follow the conversation between Voy and Marvel. Voy is a bit aggressive at times but got a lot of senses too. Marvel bro, I salute to your audio attitude too.

    It is kind of funny to be a hardcore follower of certain brand. I can understand the logic in handbags. When the final consumption is music itself, I always cannot follow the magic. I think it's ok to like some kind of sensational sound by brand x and brand y. But I also feel if musical maturity grow over time, isn't this will change too? Whenever I hear someone is hardcore fans of x and y, I know one must indulge in certain sound. No right or wrong here, just perference. Obviously, Voy seems to have high expectation on Marvel bro. I understand because going back to the swiss candy is a step backward in Voy's eyes.

    Hey Voy, romanting dating is always fun? I fancy a lot all the time but don't have the guts and money. Marvel bro has a deep pocket. Allow him to be naughty a few times. You seem monitor his audio behavior all the time.

    The conversation between you and Marvel is funny and provoking sometimes. You are very logical and sharp. Marvel seems loses focus and wander away from logic but eventually come back. Bravo to you too!

    Alan
  • Sorry to have posted 3 times above without any success in getting the photo included. I will try later but it seems that my original photo was too large.

    Thanks to all 'net' friends on the advices which I certainly need especially those related to fundamental issues like tile floor. To have the Zanden combo reunion and superclock upgraded, there are 2 persons who have helped to make it happens. One is no doubt Yamada san who gave up his own superclock (the 7th clock).

    Readers of this forum would have understood that my earlier argument on not going for the clock upgrade was that I have traded in the Zanden 5000Sig for the Heritage as the left brain told me technically Heritage is a much more advanced machine. Now my right brain can perceive the musical big picture with the Zanden combo back in couple.

    The 2nd person that I would like to thank is PT who has kept my traded in 5000Signature, secretly sent back to Osaka for superclock upgrade (the remaining half of the 7th set). The 5000Sig returned and sit as a 'sleeper' in the warehouse of AE for about 1 month and PT didn't tell me about it until recently I asked PT if I could buy an used 5000Sig in Audioxon in 110v and change it to 220v. PT reckoned that it is the time and he unvealed the fact that an upgraded 5000Sig is already sitting and waiting for me since 19Sep. Absolutely a Marvel-killer! No hardsell, no pressure, just wait until I said I am ready. PT doesn't want half of the 7th set goes to somebody else but just wait quietly until I am ready...what can I say!

    Marvel
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